Roaring Fork girls lacrosse pulls stunner, beats Aspen to advance in playoffs
Rams to play No. 2 Mead in the quarterfinals on Saturday
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
The Roaring Fork High School girls lacrosse team rallied for one of the biggest wins in program history on Thursday, beating rival Aspen 8-7 in overtime in their second-round Class 4A state playoff game on the AHS turf.
“This is a historic win for these girls,” Roaring Fork coach Chelsea Robson said. “This is big for them. Today was a team win. They worked together as a team. They knew this was on the line. They hustled. They were intense and they wanted it. They knew what was at stake.”
In recent years, Aspen had established itself as the program to beat on the Western Slope. But right behind have been the Rams, and Thursday’s victory certainly legitimized the program, largely because it was Aspen it had to beat to advance.
The Rams started hot and led 4-1 late into the first half, but the Skiers managed to score three straight goals to make it a 4-4 deadlock by halftime.
“At this point in the season, there is nothing we can do drill-wise, or a sprint that is going to make them faster,” Robson said. “At this point, it’s all about logistics. And they did it today. They did the things they needed to do to make it happen.”
After falling behind 5-4 early in the second half, Roaring Fork’s offense took over, scoring three straight goals to take a 7-5 lead with about 12 minutes to play.
The Skiers did have a final spurt, however, scoring twice in the final frame, including the game-tying goal with only 3:47 remaining that sent the game to overtime. But, less than a minute into the extra session, the Rams scored the game-winner to pull the upset.
AHS and Roaring Fork had split their regular-season meetings, each going 1-1 this spring.
“They are our biggest rival, in a really good way. These girls have all grown up playing lacrosse together,” Robson said of beating Aspen. “Obviously, we respect them as a team. They have produced some really amazing players. And I think our girls, they like playing against them. I think they’ve shown today they have exactly what it takes to match up and take it and win.”
Aspen, the No. 7 seed, had a first-round bye and ends its season 10-6 overall. Roaring Fork, the tournament’s No. 10 seed and now 12-5, advances to face No. 2 Mead (13-2) in the state quarterfinals on Saturday.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
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